Why Weren't You Hired as a 2011 Supreme Court Law Clerk?

Now that Supreme Court clerk hiring has officially been completed for the October 2011 term, it's time to sit down and figure out why you weren't even remotely considered for a position.

And why graduates from the University of Georgia and Louisiana State University were.

That's right--this year you can't blame your failure on the uh, lackluster, status of your law school.

This isn't to say that the court's elitism wasn't a prevalent factor in this year's hiring, with all but three of the clerks graduating from a venerable "T-14" institution.

Shockingly, Duke is now part of that top list, pushing future Breyer clerk Rachel Bloomekatz (UCLA 2008) down into the bottom three.

So, how exactly did these three overcome their lesser credentials?

While one could certainly point to Bloomekatz's undergraduate stint at Harvard and the time she spent clerking for the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the truth is that, sometimes, to be hired as a Supreme Court clerk, you need the backing of two legislative bodies.